The End of Night: Searching for Natural Darkness in an Age of Artificial Light

[Markekohut]

One of the thrusts of this book is to detail some of the ways electric lighting has changed
Our natural rhythms/ selves. 

P'haps a partial Pynchon theme....

Sent from my iPad

On Sep 5, 2013, at 8:26 PM, Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 9/5/13, Jill Adams <grladams at teleport.com> wrote:
> 
>> An ardent opponent of light pollution chronicles how the darkness of night
>> is disappearing around much of the world, why that matters, and what can and
>> should be done about it. Bogard (Creative Nonfiction/James Madison Univ.)
>> travels around the world to its brightest and darkest places, looking up at
>> the night sky. This book can be seen as a companion piece to the anthology
>> Let There Be Night: Testimony on Behalf of the Dark (2008), in which the
>> author gathered 29 individual voices on the subject; here, the voice is his
>> own but with generous quotes from scientists and activists whom he has
>> sought out in his travels. Among the places he visited are not only the
>> cities of Las Vegas, Paris, Florence and New York, but also Walden Pond,
>> small towns and remote places such as Death Valley, Chaco Canyon, the Canary
>> Islands and the Isle of Sark. Bogard fondly and movingly remembers times
>> when night was really dark, but he fears that such experiences will be
>> unknown to most of humanity. The loss, as he explains, is not merely an
>> aesthetic or even a spiritual one; artificial lighting may be having serious
>> impacts on our health and on the environment. The author talked to
>> researchers who see a link between lighting and cancer and to naturalists
>> who note the impact of artificial outdoor lighting on other species, such as
>> birds, bats and bees. The efforts of the National Park Service to set up
>> dark-sky preserves gives Bogard reason for optimism, and his conversations
>> with outdoor lighting experts indicate that feasible energy-reducing
>> approaches are available. What's needed is awareness, which the author
>> provides in an appealing, reader-friendly way. An engaging blend of personal
>> story, hard science and a bit of history. COPYRIGHT(2013) Kirkus Reviews,
>> ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
> 
> http://www.versobooks.com/books/1429-24-7